Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
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How were adapted the poems from the book "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S.Eliot, to the musical "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. FROM THE BOOK TO THE STAGE http://www.catsthemusical.com/wp- content/uploads/2015/06/tseliot.png Subject: Poesía inglesa de los siglos XX y XXI / Group: A / Lecturer: Miguel Teruel Pozas. Student: Carmen Cócera Hernández 1. INTRODUCTION: It may sound strange and surprising how a serious and prestigious author who rose to fame by poems like The Waste Land and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 for his great contribution to modern poetry, could write poems about cats; but T.S.Eliot did it. As a great lover of cats he was, he used to write letters and poems about his cat to his godson Thomas Faber and also to his friends during the 1930s. The poems have an ironic and sarcastic air; they are completely humorous, an aspect so far not known of the author since they have nothing to do with the most dramatic and intellectual stage of his life during his marriage to Vivienne Haigh-Wood. In 1939, these poems were collected into a book called Old Possum´s Book of Practical Cats and published. The book starts with a poem which describes the three different names that a cat must have; after that, every poem talks about the different features and characteristics of a series of certain cats that live in a commune where they are known by the “Jellicles”. The book was popular especially among children; and the composer of musical theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber was one of these children who read it in his childhood. Old Possum´s Book of Practical Cats was one of his favourite books so that as soon as he had the opportunity he decided to adapt some of T.S.Eliot's poems and to create songs that could be interpreted in a musical. In 1980, his songs were presented for the first time in the festival of Sydmonton; the widow of T.S.Eliot, Valerie was there and she was so amazed with the compositions that she gave him her permission to use them in a musical. The birth of “Cats” took place a year later, in 1981, in New London Theatre in the West End. Its originality to accompany verses recited with music, where almost there are no dialogues, and where all the dances share a unique scenery, a dump; without forgetting the fact that actors are dressed and made up as felines. All of this provoked that it was welcomed with great enthusiasm among the spectators and it reaped a worldwide fame that continues today. It is clear that we will never know the opinion of T.S.Eliot about bringing his poems about kittens on stage since he died in 1965, but what we do know is that some of his poems were written with the intention of being accompanied with music. For instance, he agreed that the composer Alan Rawsthorne created a specific music for six of his poems which would allow them to be recited with an orchestra. 1 2. ANALYSIS OF SOME OF THE POEMS BY T.S.ELIOT THAT WERE ADAPTED FOR THE MUSICAL “CATS” Thirteen poems are those that have been adapted for the musical of which will be analyzed four: “The Naming of Cats”, “Of The Aweful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles”, “The Song of the Jellicles” and “Rhapsody on a Windy Night”. The choice of these poems is mainly due to their value when they are being introduced on stage, without them the main story would be meaningless. 2.1. THE NAMING OF CATS The naming of cats is a difficult matter It isn't just one of your holiday games You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter When I tell you a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. *** First of all, there's the name that the family use daily, Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James, Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey All of them sensible, everyday names. *** There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames: Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter— But all of them sensible everyday names. *** But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular, 2 Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride? *** Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat, Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum — Names that never belong to more than one cat *** But above and beyond there's still one name left over, And that is the name that you never will guess; The name that no human research can discover — But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess. *** When you notice a cat in profound meditation, The reason, I tell you, is always the same: His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation, Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name: *** His ineffable, effable, effanineffable Deep and inscrutable singular Name. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Naming of Cats is composed in anapaestic tetrameter, with variations. Regarding the literal meaning of the poem, it begins by explaining that there are a variety of names that a cat has. Exactly, they must have three different types of names although it may seem crazy, in fact, the author says: “You may think at first I´m as mad as a hatter”, because it is something important. This “mad as a hatter” is an allusion to the fantastic 3 book “Alice in Wonderland” we know that, because the Mad Hatter is one of the most important characters of the Lewis Carroll´s book. The expression “mad as a hatter”, that means being completely mad, appeared for the first time in 1835 when some hatters started to use mercury in the manufacturing of hats. It was discovered lately that a long exposition of mercury could provoke poisoning which could affect the mood in a bad way, for instance: it could generate aggressiveness. We also can say that the author is using a simile which is contained in the expression because he is comparing himself with a hatter. Then, he describes and lists the types of names that cats used; some of these names refer to philosophers of ancient Greece and mythological gods among others. But if we focus on reading between the lines, we can see that cats are personified and therefore we can be identified with them because we feel that they are treated like people. Those names are actually the name by which we are born, the name by which we know others as a nickname and the last one is for which we would like to be known or remembered but only we know it and nobody can guess. But how the poem is transmitted in the musical Cats? In the musical the poem is recitated in unison by all the actors who playing the different cats that appear in the poems of T.S.Eliot. All of them are in front of the stage and they are using a hypnotic and melodious voice, at the same time they respect the rhytm of the poem. The only change from the original version is the end of the poem, in the musical the actors repeat the word “Name” several times until they disappeared from the stage while other cat is going on. This addition is necessary to introduce the dance of the Victoria´s cat in a natural way. 2.2. OF THE AWEFUL BATTLE OF THE PEKES AND THE POLLICLES T. S. Eliot, 1939 TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PARTICIPATION OF THE PUGS AND THE POMS, AND THE INTERVENTION OF THE GREAT RUMPUSCAT The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows, Are proud and implacable passionate foes; It is always the same, wherever one goes. And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say 4 That they do not like fighting, will often display Every symptom of wanting to join in the fray. And they Bark bark bark bark Bark bark BARK BARK Until you can hear them all over the Park. Now on the occasion of which I shall speak Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week (And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke). The big Police Dog was away from his beat - I don't know the reason, but most people think He'd slipped into the Bricklayer's Arms for a drink - And no one at all was about on the street When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet. They did not advance, or exactly retreat, But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet, And started to Bark bark bark bark Bark bark BARK BARK Until you could hear them all over the Park. Now the Peke, although people may say what they please, Is no British Dog, but a Heathen Chinese. And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar, Some came to the window, some came to the door; There were surely a dozen, more likely a score. And together they started to grumble and wheeze In their huffery-snuffery Heathen Chinese. But a terrible din is what Pollicles like, For your Pollicle Dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke, And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters, And every dog-jack of them notable fighters; And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order, Playing When the Blue Bonnets Came Over the Border.